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The Prison System Is Set Up To House Inmates Based On Their

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The prison system is set up to house inmates based on their gender; male or female. But, society has evolved and the standard binary system does not apply to most people today, so where does this leave the transgender inmates? Trans inmates, regardless of whether they have been taking hormones before their sentence or not, are housed in the facility that matches their biological gender rather than their identified gender. Transgender inmates, especially trans women, face many obstacles including access health care, violent attacks, and sexual assault, however, if a trans inmate has received sex-reassignment surgery, they will be housed with their identified gender meaning that prisons are housing inmates based on genitals rather than …show more content…

In step two, the trans person must openly live as their identified gender for about two years which includes dressing, speaking and operating like their identified gender, beginning a hormone treatment and sometimes cosmetic surgery, at their own cost, if desired. There are many transgender people who are content with living the rest of their lives in step two, but if a medical professional deems it medically necessary for the trans person’s health and they (the trans person) is confident in themselves, the third and final step is sex-reassignment surgery. Per Agbemenu, SRS consists of “vaginoplasty for trans females and phalloplasty for trans males”. Now, with a better understanding of gender dysphoria and sex-reassignment surgery, one may better understand opposing arguments.
The pro-SRS party argues that the denial of sex-reassignment surgery to trans inmates, who are in medical need of the procedure, is a direct violation of the inmates’ eighth amendment rights. The Eight Amendment reserves all inmates the right to adequate medical care and the protection from “cruel and unusual punishment”. Inmates who suffer from gender dysphoria can suffer from symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and even self-mutilation if they do not receive proper treatment in a timely manner and the prison systems have exploited this greatly. There have been cases where trans inmates do end up

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